A World of Fragile Things
by Ana the Romantic
Summary: Tigress has always been strong, but that doesn't mean that everything's been easy for her.  A little perspective ficlet on the Tiger Master with a little Ti x Po for good measure.


**A/n:** Hello all. As I was digging up some inspiration on some plot line for my KFP fiction, I came across this title and couldn't help but use it. As I went in a different direction for my main fiction, I believed that one of my favorite characters could use a little one-shot ficlet of her own. It will be separate from my main KFP fic since I have different plans for her and Po in that one. This is just a stand alone for Tigress, with Ti x Po thrown in for good balance. And maybe a little of spoilers. You were warned. Enjoy.

"**A World of Fragile Things"**

Everything had always started out complicated for her.

When she was born she was put into an orphanage so quickly after her birth that she couldn't remember her birth parent's faces or voices. Sometimes she wasn't even sure if she even was born as all other children were. She was a monster after all. No one wanted her- many were scared of her and of her strength. She would break most of the toys she chose to play with, not to mention a few accidents with the children that were brave enough to try and play with her. The broken bones weren't really her fault. In truth people around her at the orphanage weren't the only ones frightened of her strength. She was too. At night she would look at her paws and extend her claws out to see the true horror of the monster she was. She often wondered during those nights… 'Did my parents know?'

"Strength, my young student, is nothing to be feared," Shifu once said to her when he first brought her to the Jade Palace, "It is something to sculpt and master through time."

"I have hurt many that I didn't want to," Tigress said in a soft voice.

"That will change. In time you will only hurt those that hurt others," Shifu nodded and gestured to a small mannequin for her to practice on, "Now proceed."

She lunged forward and tore the mannequin in half with one punch. As she heard Shifu sigh and shuffle to find a sturdier opponent she looked at her paws and sighed.

"How will anything change when the rest of the world is so fragile?" she bit the inside of her lip to keep back the rush of tears.

* * *

><p>Years passed and nothing became any less complicated. Shifu, though a great and honorable master, was not what anyone expected or thought of as a good father figure. Although she fought and trained for his approval, Shifu never extended a kind word of encouragement other than on her advances in training. And she soon discovered that whatever love he was to give to any child was all lost on the one that betrayed him. And the one that he felt he had betrayed. In that way, her master was broken and would always be.<p>

Tigress, now a young lady, watched from the tops of the Jade Palace at the people below. She would watch as young children would be swooped up in their parents' arms and cuddled and kissed on the head as they headed inside their homes. She spotted young adults her own age walking hand in hand and holding one another gently. They were all lucky, she thought. They knew what it was to be loved… and how to love back. Thinking back on what she had done to the male student of Shifu earlier in the day, she knew she could never be able to touch someone so gently as the lovers below her held one another. Even the most dedicated male was too fragile, and she broke him. One of the toughest in the entire palace, and she still broke his arm in a simple spar.

She looked at her paw and studied the new bruises and scrapes from the trees at the sides of the palace. She was almost there. They were almost numb of all pain. She had begun when she was around six, when she finally realized that Shifu would never love her like a daughter. She had scraped the skin down to the bone and then some. It hurt in the beginning, but now she only felt a slight burn. By the next full moon she knew her hands and arms would no longer feel even that. She had believed that if she could stop the pain from reaching her hands, then maybe someday she could stop the pain from reaching her heart.

"Everything is broken when I touch it," she said softly and frowned with a slight scowl and soft growl, "Then I will teach myself to not touch. Everything always falls in pieces in time. This will save me the trouble."

She flexed her knuckles and felt the sting of a wound open once again. She didn't even wince at the pain.

* * *

><p>Soon the others that joined the palace along with her would become known as the Furious Five, with her as their unofficial leader. Each had their strong suits and their quirks. She respected them for their mastery of the art of Kung Fu, and slowly began to think that maybe there were some people that were able to be around her and not shatter. That was until she broke Crane's leg during a sparring match and knew then, that even as skilled as these masters were, they were still a part of the world. And as such were still fragile. As much as Viper tried to become friendly with Tigress after that, she could never get close enough before Tigress would walk away. No one could get close enough to her.<p>

"No one gets hurt this way," she would say alone on top of the palace, "Everyone stays whole…"

* * *

><p>Then one day Oogway, the wisest of all masters chose a panda as the much awaited Dragon Warrior. A panda! Of all creatures of all China, a panda with no Kung Fu knowledge was chosen. Tigress was enraged at the foolishness of the choice. She had thought better of Oogway- respected him. And yet, now a childish panda slept across the hall from her. When the morning came and they would spar, she would take delight in breaking him. Then he would go back to that stupid noodle shop and leave this dream behind him. He would know and understand. He was fragile and this was not his place.<p>

Morning came and so did training. She watched as in each exercise the panda was thrown and beaten and scrapped and bruised by the others of the five. She had never seen anyone, much less anything survive the fall from the steps of the palace. But there was this panda, once again climbing up the stairs to more torture.

"Why does he keep coming back?" she asked to no one in particular.

"Because he's an idiot," Crane shrugged, "It will take him a few hours to climb back up."

"I will wait for him," Tigress folded her legs into a lotus position and closed her eyes to concentrate.

The others looked at each other and then shrugged. They turned and walked back to the palace.

Po reached the top stair and pulled himself over the top and rolled on his back with a large breath of exertion. He punched his fist into the air before it fell to the ground once again, "Whoa, that's a workout."

"Why?"

Po turned his head to the side where Tigress was leering at him as she got out of the lotus position, "Master Tigress?"

"Why do you keep coming back?" she asked as her tail flicked behind her in mild annoyance.

"Because it's my destiny," he shrugged as if that was known.

"No it isn't," she shook her head, "Isn't that obvious?"

"I was chosen, and I have faith that no matter what the mysteries of the universe may have in store, Master Oogway was right," he nodded and got up from the ground.

"Fine then," she got into her starting position and stared down the panda, "I am ready."

"Ready for what?" he asked and brushed off the dirt from his paws.

"If you are truly the Dragon Warrior, then you will not fail against me," she watched as he stayed immobile, "Fight me, panda!"

"Whoa, whoa, okay…" he was worried. She could tell by his stance. He should be.

Tigress made quick work of him and noticed that through every one of her hits or her kicks, he took them and then kept going. The hits became stronger and more willful. She would break him, just as all others had been destroyed before her. She threw him to the ground and stood over him as he tried to bow from his position. As she stood over him and caught her breath she looked down at the panda.

"Let's… go… uh, again," he breathed out despite the hundreds of bruises his skin must have gained from her beating.

"Why?" she asked and stepped away from him.

"I told you…" he struggled and got up from the ground, "…it's my destiny."

"No, not that," she shook her head, "Why didn't you break?"

Po stopped and thought for a little while, "What kind of warrior breaks?"

Po then looked at her hard in the eyes and his brows furrowed, "Or is already broken?"

Tigress shifted her feet at the thought. She walked back toward the palace without another word. She wasn't broken. She's not fragile. And would never be.

It was that next night when he had given up on facing Tai Lung and that she decided to fight in his place. She wasn't broken. She had been trained to defeat Tai Lung. And she would do just that. The rest of the five joined her and she felt something shift in her. They may be fragile, but they may be tough enough to help her with Tai Lung.

He and the rest of the world was breakable, not her.

And yet, her defeat still came. With the help of the furious five, the defeat was still unbearable. Shifu ordered an evacuation of the city and the furious five were to protect all who chose to leave. The panda had finally trained himself to be a decent opponent according to Shifu, but Tigress knew that if the unbreakable couldn't defeat him, then neither could a panda. She turned from the palace and Po as he stared after them on the steps. The Dragon Scroll was empty and so were their hopes.

She later found out what had happened the next day as a ripple of power flowed from the middle of town. She walked back into town with the rest of the five and the city folk behind her. There from the middle of the crater walked Po and a defeated Tai Lung. She couldn't believe it. He had done it.

She walked forward and looked him in the eyes as he tipped the large wok back from his eyes. There it was. What she had been looking for all her life. Something strong, something undefined, something unbreakable. The wall she had around herself instantly fell from around her as she stared at the panda. Without much thought a small smile grew on her face and she bowed toward him.

"Master," she whispered and the others followed suit.

* * *

><p>As time progressed Tigress found that unbreakable wall that crumbled before Po that day was never able to be rebuilt. She began to become warmer to her other masters and found a close friendship with the only other female in the palace, Viper, who began to teach her a few more feminine ideals. It was a first friendship with a female and she really needed it. Shifu became softer as well in his training of them all. She saw it in his stance- in his eyes and the way he was would smile proudly at them all during their spars.<p>

She blamed the panda.

As she should. He was the reason for it all. He was the catalyst that finally showed her that to be truly strong and unbreakable, you first must be broken and that was okay. She began to care for her friends and even more so for the panda that had shown her much more than she would have ever learned from Shifu. The friendship was deeper than what she wanted since the fear of it disappearing was still strong. She didn't want to be so connected to him, but he had the most soothing presence. Often times she would find her body walking toward him without her permission in search of that calming affect he had on her and her thoughts. As much as she didn't want to, she knew all of that wasn't something that she could beat out of herself like the pain in her hands. It was there to stay.

And that's when he became her first weakness she couldn't beat out of herself.

* * *

><p>During their last adventure she had to feel her heart break in the way she had deeply feared. When that cannon hit Po and threw him from the building into the dark river below, she thought she had died with him. Something that just started to burn in her chest was extinguished. She told him to stay away. To stay safe. He was unbreakable against Tai Lung, but there was a crack in his armor with Shen. And with time that would break open, just as her experience has shown her it always had.<p>

'Why didn't he listen to me?' she asked herself in her mind as she hung from chains with the others around her. She closed her eyes as the others asked her on what Po would have wanted. It hurt. More than any hit, kick, strike or weapon ever would. She cringed a little, 'Why couldn't it have been me?'

And then as fast as he was taken from them, he came back… stronger than ever. He defeated Shin and his cannons with nothing but will and peace after they all earned some good sized wounds. It was so strange. She would have believed that they all would have been talking about the battle after it was done. Instead, everyone was talking quietly about the hugs that were exchanged between her and the Dragon Warrior.

One night after their defeat of Shen, Tigress found Po at the Tree of Wisdom, with a peach half eaten in his hand. He seemed distracted and deep in thought as he looked over the Valley of Peace. She smirked a little to herself and felt her heart quicken a little as she thought back to the hugs that they had given to one another. She closed her eyes and shook the thoughts away. They were just hugs. Many friends hug one another.

…just not her.

She opened her eyes and looked back at Po who took another slow bite of the peach. She stepped closer and knew that he didn't know she was there, "I've never seen a panda meditate with his eyes open before."

Po coughed on the piece of fruit in his mouth and thumped on his chest a little from surprise. The peach that he was eating fell into the mist below him. He swallowed and turned to her as she stood with her arms crossed in front of her, but a smile on her face. He chuckled a little in embarrassment.

"Hey Tigress."

"Hello Po," she hit the tree with her hip and caught the piece of fruit as it fell. She walked next to him and sat down to look at the view with him. She shifted a little and handed him the new peach, which he took with an appreciative smile. She chuckled a little, "What are you meditating on anyway?"

"Uh…" Po scratched the back side of his head with a small smile, "A few things. You know Kung Fu this, Inner peace that…"

"You're a horrible liar," she smirked and pushed him in the shoulder with her own, "Always were."

"I guess so," he nodded and took another bite out of his new peach. Somehow it seemed sweeter than the last one.

"So… what were you _thinking_ about?" she asked with a small rephrasing of the question.

"Um…" he mumbled with peach in his mouth and finally swallowed, "You?"

"Me?" she asked a little shocked with one raised brow. Whatever she thought his answer was going to be, that was a far cry from it. She turned her whole body toward him, "What about me?"

"Well, you know… the talk that we had," he shrugged, "You know, on the boat."

"Ah, the talk, yes," she nodded and felt a little disappointed.

"…and the hugs," he added as he turned away.

"Why in China would you be-" she turned toward him to catch something a little different on his face. Was that a blush? Her eyes grew a little for a split second and she tried to look at his face straight on, "Po?"

"It really isn't anything huge," he rolled his shoulders as if to loosen them up. He jumped up from his spot and got busy devouring the rest of the peach Tigress had given him. He finished and tossed the pit into a soft mound of dirt to the side. His eyes careful not to fall on the tiger master.

"Po," Tigress stood up and put her hands on her hips.

"Really, it's just kind of stupid really," he went on like he was trying to disqualify his thoughts, "I mean you were worried, and I was really happy to see you-"

"Po…" her arms moved to cross over her chest.

"You wouldn't even like a guy like me-" he stopped quickly and covered his mouth with one large paw. She felt her heart hitch for a moment and looked up into his eyes as he chanced a look back at her.

Her eyes were large, possibly as large as his at that point. She saw his weight shift and she knew he was about to run. She flipped over him and stopped him from running out his closest paths back to Jade Palace. She stared him down and made him back up from her.

"Uh, Tigress…" he said a little uneasily as he ran his hands along the trunk of the tree since it was the only thing in reach. Oh yeah, she could definitely see the blush now.

Her red eyes locked on his green and she tilted her head to the side as she narrowed her eyes. At first Po began to think that she was just thinking over the ways to kill him when she asked him, "Why do you like me?"

"You're awesome. What is there _not_ to like?" he asked a little shyly and looked away quickly only to look back at her from the corner of his eyes.

"More than you think," she whispered.

"Oh, believe me, I know the problem with more," he poked at his belly to elaborate his point, "Are you talking about the orphanage?"

"Among other things," she finally backed away from him.

"Tigress?" he watched her as she walked back to where they were sitting before and looked out on the mist as she sat down.

"Why do you like someone that… that destroys everything that they touch?" she asked without looking back at him. She looked up to see the undersides of the leaves of the tree, "From objects, to people, to friendships… I always end up doing something that breaks it beyond repair."

"Except for me," Po brought up leaned over her so that he blocked her view of the leaves above her head. She looked confused and he smirked, "You have beaten me up I don't even know how many times. You told me to leave because I didn't belong. You tried every single angle to get me to run home crying. But as you can see… I've never broken."

She looked up into his face and found something there that she never really saw before. He was really handsome. Not in a male tiger way, but in his own Po like way. Leave it to him to make her fall in love with him. She gasped a little as the thought jumped around her skull for a few seconds. She scooted out from below him and stood back as if to size him up. She couldn't be. Not with him. She didn't want to hurt him.

"You don't know what you're asking for," she shook her head.

Po gave her a soft smirk and walked toward her. It was now her turn to back away from him. Before she could turn from him, he grabbed her paw. Not a forceful hold or even that stern. It was gentle and soft as if a request more than a demand to look back at him.

"Tigress, why do you fight at every chance?" he asked and she stopped all movement. She hadn't looked back at him yet and he sighed, "Things break, people break- in more ways than one. That's just another way that we learn."

"I-" Tigress flicked her eyes back to him as her tail dropped behind her, "I don't want to hurt you like I've hurt others. The world is just full of fragile things."

Po smiled warmly and was happy to see that she didn't try to run again when he walked up to wrap her in another hug from behind her. Her back straight against his soft stomach, "It's not as full as you think. Just trust me. The only way that I will break is if I let myself."

Tigress felt his breath on the back of her neck and she closed her eyes. Besides Po, no one had dared to hug her before. No one had the courage- or maybe the stupidity- to try. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his that had wrapped around her midsection.

"You have to patient with me," she said softly.

She felt his smile against her shoulder as he chuckled and picked his head up to lay it comfortably on to top of her own, "What do you think I've been doing?"

She looked straight up to see the tip of his nose. She suddenly had a loss of words and didn't know how to answer him. Instead she leaned back against his soft fur and closed her eyes. Not only did he make it impossible to keep him out of her heart, but he made her feel safe. She could trust him, and she would.

"Tigress?" he asked.

"Hm?"

"Are you purring?" he chuckled a little as her eyes flew open and looked up at him. She didn't even know that she knew how to purr. A blush flew over the bridge of her nose even though her coloring covered most of it. He gave her a tighter squeeze and kissed her on her brow, "Come on, Tigress. It's getting late and I think the others will want dinner."

"Wait," she stopped his arms from dropping from her and turned carefully to face him. She put her hands on his chest and leaned forward to kiss him gently on the lips. As she pulled away she saw his dumbfounded expression. Her ears laid back and her own blush grew at her sudden boldness. She slipped out from his hug and began to walk down to the path toward the palace. When he wasn't following her she turned back to see him frozen in place with the same expression. She giggled- actually giggled- and called out to him, "You coming, Dragon Warrior? Others will start to wonder."

"Y-yeah," he shook himself out of the loop his mind was replaying and ran after her.

As they walked, she held on to his arm and put her head on his shoulder, "Thank you."

"For what?" he looked down at her.

"For being an unbreakable diamond among a world of fragile things."


End file.
